I reviewed this for the final issue of Mystery Scene Magazine which will release on 11-15 you can read my full review there.

I really liked this debut in a new mystery series. It is set in New Orleans where we meet Valerie. She is a widow and a recent empty nester of twin boys. She is surprised when Collette approaches her about selling her house. She never thought about it before but maybe she should downsize now that it's just her, but the house has SO many memories. Then a letter arrives saying all heirs of her husband have become beneficiaries of her late husband's uncle that she has never met or heard about.

I really enjoyed this mystery and look forward to reading more in the series.

Valerie Cooper is a widow with two college age boys living in New Orleans. When Collette, a "mean girl" and the mother of one of her boys' friends bumps into her at a local store, she asks when Valerie will be selling her house. Soon after that, Valerie discovers she's inherited part of an antique shop and her sons have inherited money from her late husbands estranged Great Uncle Arthur.
Valerie attends a costume party and finds Collette has been stabbed and killed. As the police interview her Valerie discovers Collette has a deep hatred of her. She can't figure out why, so she begins to ask questions. Valerie finds some of the answers are not easy to accept.
Ultimately, the inheritance and her questions bring her to the attention of the killer and Valerie has to fight for her life.
I liked this books a lot, I read for the characters and this certainly has great characters. The descriptions of New Orleans and life in NOLA were fascinating. The mystery was well done, though I thought I knew who the killer was soon after it happened, I didn't get all the answers until the end of the book.
I hope this turns into a new series it's a wonderful read.

Still mourning the death of her husband and lamenting her sons' departures to college, Valerie Cooper receives a message from an attorney firm asking her to meet with them. To her utter amazement she is the beneficiary to her late husband's uncle's estate including an antiques shop in New Orleans. Valerie's husband never mentioned his uncle Arthur and no one in his family could tell her why he was estranged from his family. Much to her surprise, Valerie has a knack for the business and decides to participate, but she encounters problems with her long-time nemesis Collette Monaghan, the daughter of the other shareholder in the business. When murder interrupts at a costume party, Valerie finds herself involved in the investigation, Looking forward to others in this series.

This was a nicely done whodunit that I could not put down, as I had to know how this was going to end. Questions abound about where the uncle fit into the life of her late husband and what it means to her. Trying to figure things out takes backstage when Valerie’s nemesis is found murdered. The suspect pool was generous, and a few red herrings were tossed in to keep me in the game and what a game it was, filled with intrigue and suspense. The author did a great job in staging this drama with visually descriptive narrative and engaging dialogue that had me immersed in what was going on with the character’s history and the motive that led up to the murder. New Orleans as the setting is a perfect accompaniment to delight of this tale. Overall, this is a good start and I look forward to more adventures with Valerie and her friends.

I liked the southern setting of this debut cozy as New Orleans is rich with history, mystery, and magic. I tried hard to like the protagonist, Valerie, but could not connect to her personality. Actually, I liked the character of her best friend, Lorna, the best. It was frustrating that the murder didn’t happen until 53% through the story which is quite unusual in a cozy mystery. Parts of the story were interesting; however, there was repetition that wasn’t needed. I did enjoy the humor at the beginning. Many readers may enjoy the story; however, the characters just didn’t appeal to me.

I reviewed an un-edited, digital arc provided by NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. The details about New Orleans were fun, and the mystery kept getting more and more interesting. I grew to like the main characters and kept wanting to read more and more in one sitting. There were some editing issues throughout, but the book was very enjoyable overall.

Although the title of the book is rather random (there's no streetcar involved anywhere in the story), the tale itself is very enjoyable with a complex cast of characters that are well fleshed out. I was surprised that the first death in the story was not looked at more closely, but since it's of someone who's unknown to the MC, I suppose it's not too surprising.

Ultimately, the mystery in the first part of the book is trying to figure out who the previously unknown uncle is and why he would leave his estate to the MC's deceased husband's heirs. Later, when the MC's nemesis is killed, the sleuthing turns to finding out why the victim hated the MC so much and who might have killed her.

Overall, I enjoyed the pacing, the setting and the characters. There was some unnecessary repetition that could be tightened up a bit. But nothing that detracted from the story itself very much.

I did receive an advance review copy of the book, which still required a lot of editing. So I hope that's resolved in the final version. My rating assumes that it will be.

Thank you to T.G. Herren, Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an advanced review copy.

A very charming cozy mystery with a terrific sense of place. TG Herren clearly knows New Orleans well, and peppers the narrative with interesting tidbits about the people and places in the city. The murder doesn't happen until well into the book, but Herren's writing and the interesting characters carry the narrative very well.

A streetcar Named Murder is the first book in "A New Orleans Mystery" by T.G. Herren. I did finish the book, but the characters didn't draw me in to what was going on in their lives, and with that being said, it's not a bad book!

Valerie's husband was a fire fighter who had passed away, and their twin sons were away at college,
leaving Valerie just sort of living, with no real purpose, until she is contacted by an Attorney, who notifies her that she has inherited her husbands Uncle's estate. Not only is she left money, she is left an antique store, which she knows nothing about! She didn't know that her late husband even had an Uncle, let alone a rich one!

I want to thank NetGalley, and the Publisher for allowing me to read this book, and to be able to leave my honest review, which is my own opinion.

I thought the excitement and intrigue could have started earlier. I almost gave up finishing reading it, but clueless Valerie kept me going. She was obtuse about her husband's past, which almost became her downfall. Although the intrigue and excitement began midway, it still made for a captivating, exciting, and entertaining read.

Widowed Valerie is just wandering thru life after her twin boys leave for college. Then she receives an unexpected inheritance from an unknown relative and her life is turned upside down. A fine start to a new series

This debut cozy mystery is a great start to a new series! Valerie Cooper is surprised to hear she is a beneficiary of her late husbands uncle, whom she never met. It's a substantial inheritence that includes a large house and a major share in a successful antiques business. She decides to learn the Antique business as she is is at loose ends since her twin boys have gone away to college. Her friend Lauren drags her to a costume party, where Valerie stumbles upon a woman, the very same realtor who had been badgering her to sell her house; stabbed with a jeweled dagger. This is a distintive dagger from her Antique Shop, Valerie is the prime suspect and does everything she can to prove her innocence. This book was a fun quick read. Good plot, likable characters, and plenty of red herrings. I can't wait to read the next book in this series. Thank you to the publisher and to netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

I enjoyed reading this first book in a new series. Valerie is the main character. She lost her husband a few years ago and now her twin boys are headed off to college. She feels lost and out of sorts. She needs something to do. Then she gets a letter from a lawyer informing her that one of her husband's uncles, that she and the boys didn't even know about, left them his estate. She is confused and questioning why her husband didn't tell her about this uncle. One thing she inherits is majority ownership in an antique store. She decides to focus on learning everything she can about the store. Not everyone is happy about her inheritance. Her partner in the business has a daughter, Collette that was a fellow mother that ran the parent group when her boys were in high school. Collette was not very nice to Valerie or anyone else. When Collette is murdered at a party Valerie finds her and recognizes the murder weapon as a piece from the antique store. Will Valerie be accused of the murder or will the murderer come after her.

2.8 out of 5 stars (rounded up to 3 stars)

Widow and mother Valerie has recently come into a large inheritance from her late husband’s uncle. To her knowledge, her husband didn’t even have an uncle. Now, she’s dealing with the realization that she and her sons have inherited a fortune. But this newly inherited antique business may be just what Valerie needs in her life… that is, until she finds a dead body. As the new owner of the shop, Valerie must clear her name as a suspect in the murder.

~~

This book made me feel very conflicted. On one hand, I enjoyed the overall storyline. On the other hand, I had a difficult time connecting to the characters.

Valerie seemed to dwell on the same few things throughout the whole book. Here’s are some examples:

1. Her late husband. I know he was a big part of her life, and she is still grieving over him. BUT, as a reader, we didn’t need to be reminded of that every couple of pages.

2. She would also repeatedly mention that she is up every day at the same time, six in the morning. This was ok to mention a few times, but we definitely didn’t need to know that as many times as Valerie mentioned it.

There were a couple other things she kept on repeating, which started getting kind of irritating.


I also really hated her friend Lorna. Lorna really irritated me throughout the whole book. In fact, it was a bit shocking that Valerie decided to become her friend. Based off Valerie’s recounting of how they met, I was really stunned by Lorna’s behavior.

At the time that they first met, Valerie’s twin boys were toddlers. Of course, toddlers being toddlers, they were having a bit of a meltdown. Lorna (a complete stranger at the time) knocks on the door and somehow instantly can calm the boys down with a few words and a sharp stare. Armed with a bottle of wine and a charming smile, Lorna precedes to tell a stunned Valerie “you’ve got to tame the little beasts when they’re young or they’ll grow up to be monsters. Date rapists or something equally horrible.”


Um, what?! If a complete stranger knocked on my door, critiqued my parenting, and said that about my theoretical kids, I would be LIVID! Like ma’am, leave the bottle of wine and get out of my house. Because the twins were having a tantrum, all of a sudden they’ll become date rapists? What?! This was literally one tantrum that Lorna had seen, and she felt she had the right to say that? And to top it all off, Valerie seems to remember this memory with great fondness. I know it’s only a few pages of the book, but it really left a bad impression towards Lorna for the rest of the time.

~~

Despite my struggles with the characters, the book was still a cute cozy mystery! If you can ignore Lorna and get past Valerie’s tendency to dwell on stuff, the book is still quite interesting. Even though there wasn’t as much of a mystery as I would have liked, I would still want to read the next books in the series, as I did enjoy it overall.

Thanks to the author and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Thanks for the ARC. What a fun cozy mystery!! What can I say? I did not want to put this book down once I started reading it. . Love the cover! Will recommend!

This is the first in the series and it’s a solid start. Valerie Cooper is a fantastic MC. The clues were a little slim other than that I enjoyed the mystery.

#AStreetcarNamedMurder #NetGalley

Hello, Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley.

The file that came into my Kindle has all of the paragraphs without indentions. Thus, the reading process of this arc is not easy on the eyes or enjoyable.

Unfortunately, I found this poor formatting with several of the cozy mystery tiles from Crooked Lane books.

The only two that were formatted correctly and readable were A Christmas Candy Killing and A Good Day To Pie, both of which I loved. I will post reviews for those books later this Fall on my blog and include the links.

List of Crooked Lane Books that are incorrectly formatted are;

Death by Margins
Dead Men Don’t Decorate
The Game Is A Footnote
Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking
Streetcar Named Murder
Snuffed Out
Hidden in the Pines
Canter With A Killer

A fun read! I enjoyed the mystery of the book! I thought this was a cute fun story! Can't wait to read more!

An Unexpected Beneficiary..
The first in the New Orleans Mystery series in which murder becomes the name of the game, Valerie Cooper becomes an unexpected beneficiary, a costume party turns deadly and there is more to the antiques business than she ever knew. With a well defined cast of characters, an engaging and entertaining storyline and a solid mystery at heart this is an enjoyable first in a series and holds much promise of more to come.